My husband and I are following the meal planner for week #1.
Hubby is quite active, swim training every morning and having low energy levels. Is it ok to snack on e.g. raw peanuts for extra energy? Peanuts don’t get much of a mention in the book except a mention as a flavonoids and don’t pop up in recipie ingredients.
Thanks for any advice or suggestions!
Jane.

The meal planners are examples only. Which specific wholefoods are included or excluded in any phase or cycle depends on the individual’s detailed food and symptom diary (p.187). This means your Clever Guts journey may be quite different to your husband’s journey.

Peanuts are not true nuts but rather legumes/ pulses (p.191) which some guts handle better than others. Alternatives with a better fatty acid, mineral and/ or prebiotic fibre composition include hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, ground linseeds.

Note that during R&R snacking is discouraged (p.262) in order to ‘rest’ the gut. If more calories/energy is required ideally maintain the balance and variety of food groups/ types to maintain the balance of nutrients. Your husband might increase serving sizes at mealtimes, or have four properly balanced and very varied meals each day with a gap between each.

Is your husband training seven days a week, without regular rest days and gentle active recovery days? There is a fine line between boosting sports performance and overreaching, and between overreaching and overtraining syndrome. Stressing the body with an intense exercise regime may be counterproductive or incompatible with a strict R&R phase. Some will need the carbohydrates in gluten-free wholegrains and/ or to eat more lower sugar antioxidant rich fruits (eg. berries).

HTH!

Forgot one of my favourite nutrient dense foods: 85% cocoa low sugar dark chocolate. Cocoa (p.114) is rich in minerals, prebiotic antioxidants and fibre. Gut friendly and fitness friendly!

Excellent advice, many thanks.

Hubby doesn’t like any kind of chocolate so he is sticking to the suggested meals but increasing portion sizes.